Oxxy
New member
Hi folks
I have a rather specific issue. First up this isnât my first parrot and I have read extensively on all aspects of parrots generally, training, Eclectusâ specifically etc
Oxxy is my male Ekky, he is about two and a half.
At the moment my Ekky is houses with a âcarerâ as I am in between places. He is happy enough there, seeâs me every day and has 4-6 hours a day out of the cage
The issue â I normally have very short hair, essentially a shaved head. I had somewhat recently grown my hair a couple of inches long, he loved this and would spend ages on my shoulders preening me.
I have been under immense and ongoing stress for a while and have skin flaking off the top of my head, when I re-shaved my head, Oxxy (I can only guess in an attempt to clean me) puts the tip of his upper beak into my head and drags it over my skin. This breaks the surface of my head, causing mild bleeding. As I get tiny scabs there he is wildly enthusiastic to clean these too.
I tried a couple of hats and he has no trouble at all removing them to get back to preening me, its has in a very short amount of time become nearly an obsession for him.
I am fairly pain tolerant, but the top of my head is now routinely âred rawâ and it makes spending time with him very un-enjoyable at the moment.
Moreover just yesterday he has start doing this behavior nearly any part of my body, âcleaning meâ by dragging quite hard the tip of his beak across my skin (upper arms/shoulder mainly)
Normally I would try distraction/positive reinforcement here, but this is somewhat unusual. Given he sees me for 1-2 hours a day, and he is flighted, he is quite capable and insistent on being with me as soon as I arrive. Also, given I am sure he sees this as âcleaningâ me or preening, it is something quite important to him and an activity I would normally encourage. Given I only see him as much as I do, I am finding it hard to deny him the bonding routine as he needs it, but I simply cant tolerate the behavior anymore
I have tried caging him when he does it, and putting him down etc. But he can come straight to me, and if I spend the hour or so I spend with him âfightingâ him over this issue, then the lack of quality time will only make things worse
Happy for any and all feedback and suggestions, more than happy to answer any questions to clarify his behviour or history
Cheers!
I have a rather specific issue. First up this isnât my first parrot and I have read extensively on all aspects of parrots generally, training, Eclectusâ specifically etc
Oxxy is my male Ekky, he is about two and a half.
At the moment my Ekky is houses with a âcarerâ as I am in between places. He is happy enough there, seeâs me every day and has 4-6 hours a day out of the cage
The issue â I normally have very short hair, essentially a shaved head. I had somewhat recently grown my hair a couple of inches long, he loved this and would spend ages on my shoulders preening me.
I have been under immense and ongoing stress for a while and have skin flaking off the top of my head, when I re-shaved my head, Oxxy (I can only guess in an attempt to clean me) puts the tip of his upper beak into my head and drags it over my skin. This breaks the surface of my head, causing mild bleeding. As I get tiny scabs there he is wildly enthusiastic to clean these too.
I tried a couple of hats and he has no trouble at all removing them to get back to preening me, its has in a very short amount of time become nearly an obsession for him.
I am fairly pain tolerant, but the top of my head is now routinely âred rawâ and it makes spending time with him very un-enjoyable at the moment.
Moreover just yesterday he has start doing this behavior nearly any part of my body, âcleaning meâ by dragging quite hard the tip of his beak across my skin (upper arms/shoulder mainly)
Normally I would try distraction/positive reinforcement here, but this is somewhat unusual. Given he sees me for 1-2 hours a day, and he is flighted, he is quite capable and insistent on being with me as soon as I arrive. Also, given I am sure he sees this as âcleaningâ me or preening, it is something quite important to him and an activity I would normally encourage. Given I only see him as much as I do, I am finding it hard to deny him the bonding routine as he needs it, but I simply cant tolerate the behavior anymore
I have tried caging him when he does it, and putting him down etc. But he can come straight to me, and if I spend the hour or so I spend with him âfightingâ him over this issue, then the lack of quality time will only make things worse
Happy for any and all feedback and suggestions, more than happy to answer any questions to clarify his behviour or history
Cheers!
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